Author Mary Ann Callahan of the CEX.io cryptocurrency exchange explains why Zcash can be called "the most interesting Bitcoin alternative."

When the king of secrecy singles out an altcoin, you have to know that it will be good. Say hello to Zcash -- the best kept secret in the world of cryptocurrencies!

A - Z

With the initial aim to improve the anonymity functions of Bitcoin, Zcash was born in 2016. It was first known as the Zerocoin project to be later renamed to Zerocash. Amongst its team are Roger Ver, Matthew Green, and Wilcox-O'Hearn. What makes this alternative coin (altcoin) unique is that investors/traders can choose "selective disclosure."

This means one can choose if he wants to disclose the transaction, beneficiary, and amount or not, for tax purposes or to comply with the rules and regulations set out by various organizations and entities. Just like its big brother, there is a 21 million unit supply of Zcash. It should be noted that founder Wilcox has made various public appearances stating that the aim of the coin is not to encourage criminal activities.

Zcash became one of the top 10 cryptocurrencies due to its market cap in 2017.

Alternative to Bitcoin?

Whilst so many coins refer to themselves as Bitcoin's alternative in terms of privacy and security, it can get quite confusing whom to believe and whom to avoid. Zcash, thus far takes the prize when it comes to truly being Bitcoin's alternative in the abovementioned regards. It makes it impossible to follow someone's crypto transactions thanks to Zcash's encryption technology or zk-SNARK.

The random number that is being used to estimate a hash value becomes unnecessary and one can basically prove a secret without giving away any information about it. In layman's terms it means that all the transactions are fully encrypted in the Zcash blockchain. The same applies to the history of the transaction on the blockchain. But don't take our word for it.

NSA whistle-blower Edward Snowden has recently taken to social media and hailed Zcash as the "most interesting alternative to bitcoin." He claimed that Bitcoin, for all its worth, may not be private and thus unsafe. Snowden was responding to a tweet regarding Zcash that also praised the altcoin by calling it "hard to ignore."

Looking at the recent spike in the price of Zcash, holders were thrilled when the coin reached $410 at the end of September 2017, but then plummeted to $290. This may have been due to a number of sites listing the coin. Still, Zcash has not recovered from the high it was back in June 2017, prior to the Bitcoin fork. Regardless, Zcash is showing a steady rise of about 10% month to month.

Respect My Privacy

Another worthy contender for the title of Bitcoin's alternative is Monero. A simple way to differentiate Monero from Zcash is to say that Monero is a practical coin and Zcash is theoretical. This means that Zcash uses mathematically provable systems to conceal transactions. Monero, on the other hand, uses cryptographic layers, which is just one step below Zcash's zero-knowledge technology. Users of Zcash can choose to perform anonymous transactions while all Monero transactions are anonymous, leaving the user with no choice.

Can Zcash Increase Cybercrimes?

When even a government entity has recognized the evolution of cryptocurrencies such as Ethereum, Dash, Zcash, and Monero, you have to know that the crypto world is on the right track. The Internet Organized Crime Threat Assessment (IOCTA) made a statement saying that these cryptos are becoming more popular by the day, thanks to their privacy and security characteristics. Their report was the first of its kind to be released by such an entity.

The truth is that, if there's a will, there's a way. Criminal activities are just about everywhere -- whether it takes place in Fiat currencies or cryptocurrencies. In the end, justice prevails, as was the case when the darknet market AlphaBay was recently shut down by authorities in a crackdown operation.

Mining Rights

September 2016 was an exciting time for those who mine Zcash since they announced the release of its first beta. During the same month, investors were invited to suggest alternative methods of mining Zcash. This clearly paid off since Genesis Mining gave Zcash holders the go-ahead in October to buy miners with the currency.

Zcash also features the "Founder's Reward" which is a way of rewarding all those involved, from investors to employees, with a 10% stake in the 21 million units of Zcash that is being mined. The Founder's Reward is an online tool that calculates how much Zcash one can mine.

Part of the Community

There is no doubt that Zcash is reaching out to its community and ensuring their continuous involvement in the development of the coin. This is evident from a $80,000 grant that was offered to the community by the Zcash Foundation. The grant aimed at enlisting new ideas to develop Zcash's software and outreach to its community. The project was looking to make possible the sending of Zcash over WhatsApp, to name one social messaging platform. How exciting!

The marketplace OpenBazaar recently added Zcash as a method of payment alongside Bitcoin.

Zcash on CEX.io

CEX.io is continuously looking to improve trading for its loyal customers, and this month, they announced that Zcash has been added onto the exchange. CEX.io caters to any level of investor, from beginner to expert. With the addition of Zcash onto CEX.io, fans in the US and Europe can trade the coin to their hearts' content. Use your debit or credit card to fund your account in a simple, quick and secure way. CEX.io is very excited about the advanced technological benefits Zcash offers to clients and believes the coin will show tremendous growth in the near future.

The following trading pairs are now available on CEX.io:

ZEC/USD
ZEC/EUR
ZEC/GBP
ZEC/BTC

CEX.io will be adding a Zcash bundle feature onto the site allowing investors to buy Zcash in increments of $100, $200 or $500. CEX.io is a safe and secure trading platform with more than one million users across the world.